Daniels Hosts Party at Cinema Tower to Celebrate TIFF 2013

Every year as the summer draws to a close, we are given several reminders as to what makes this city great. Festivals like Taste of the Danforth and the Canadian National Exhibition mark key points in the progression of the summer season, with the latter often being considered the official end of vacation season. Though students have gone back to school and the mercury has started to fluctuate, summer in our city doesn't officially end for many adults until the conclusion of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

TIFF festivities in David Pecaut Square, image by Jack Landau

The ongoing boom in construction has made considerable contributions to the festival too, both directly and indirectly. The yearly spectacle now benefits from its new headquarters at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, while the several new five-star hotels fill up to house the A-listers who come to town to participate in it.

Immediately north of the TIFF Bell Lightbox is The Daniels Corporation’s Cinema Tower. It is now practically complete, with residents starting to move in, and finishing touches being applied to the building’s interiors. Like the name suggests, the 43-storey condominium tower is programmed to become a part in the annual festivities, with three-year memberships to the TIFF Bell Lightbox for all purchasers, a bonus over and above the building's sophisticated private screening room, which will itself get some TIFF programming during the year.

To celebrate TIFF and the project’s virtual completion, Daniels hosted a party this past Friday using Cinema Tower’s HOK-designed lobby as an event space. With the world's entertainment scene fixated on major film screenings occurring right next door, the tents, red carpets and valet parking seen in front of Cinema Tower’s Widmer Street entrance on Friday night attracted several curious star-gazers hoping to catch a fleeting glimpse of silver screen royalty. Though the celebrities attending this party were the building's new residents, distant cheers could be heard sporadically throughout the evening, each indicating another breathless sighting of a big-screen star nearby.

To complement the white décor of the HOK-designed lobby, the party was themed with plenty of appropriately hued food created by the crew at Paintbox Bistro, including white cheddar mac and cheese with confit, tempura clam, and pork and scallop momo. Jumbo beer sliders broke the colourless barrier, but we forgive Paintbox Bistro: yum! Meanwhile, dessert also fit into the evening's décor, with fresh marshmallow pops, white cheddar popcorn, vanilla cake pops, coconut jellybeans, and various white-icing covered baked goods.

The white theme also carried over to clothing, with guests encouraged to show up wearing as much white as possible. Enforcement was non-existent, thankfully, or a good number of party guests would have never have made it through the door!

Some chose to wear only white, with others doing the best they could, image by Jack Landau

After welcoming remarks from Simona Annibale, Daniels’ VP of Marketing, guests were given the chance to visit Cinema Tower’s model suites on level 13.

Daniels’ VP of Marketing, Simona Annibale, image by Jack Landau

Since we dropped in to see these same suites a few weeks back, we didn't take any more photos up there this time… but some of us did get our pictures taken: party guests were plopped in front of a camera set up to create flip books. Flip those pages, and our editor dances!

Much of Daniels’ senior staff as on hand to enjoy the evening's festivities, including Tom Dutton, Senior VP, John Daniels, Chairman, and Mitchell Cohen, President.

Tom Dutton, John Daniels and Mitchel Cohen, image by Jack Landau

While the party wound down for us late Friday night, residents at Cinema Tower get to experience the vibrant energy of TIFF from start to finish, which helps explain why only a small handful of the building’s 444 units are still available for purchase.

HOK-designed lobby doubling as event space, image by Jack Landau

Additional information and renderings can be found for Cinema Tower in our dataBase listing, linked below. Want to get involved in the discussion? Check out the associated Forum threads, or voice your opinion in the comments section provided at the bottom of this page.